There is strong evidence linking childhood poverty to poorer outcomes throughout childhood and later life, including lower educational attainment, poorer job prospects, lower earnings and lower life expectancy.

At a national level, four key measures of child poverty are published:

Relative low income – children living in households whose income is less than 60% of the median income (after adjusting for household type and size)

Combined low income and material deprivation – a combination of the level of income and also material aspects (for example whether children have been able to go on school trips, or can go swimming once a month)

Absolute low income and persistent low income – this measures income compared to a fixed baseline

Persistent low income – where relative low income persists for three> of the previous four years.

At a county level and below (e.g. local authority districts), only data on relative low income are available. Information is provided for children aged under 16 years, and also for all children (where young people under the age of 20 years are living at home either in full-time education or unemployed). Nationally, targets have been adopted for each of the four measures. For the relative low income measure, the national target is for less than 10% of children to be living in low income households by the year 2020.

In 2013, 12.1% of children under the age of 16 years in West Sussex were living in low income households. Within the CCG area, the proportion of children living in low income households ranges from 8.2% in Horsham to 15.3% in Adur.

The table below shows the number and proportion of children under 16 years of age living in low income households in local authority districts of NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG between 2008 and 2013. It should be noted that the data for Horsham reflects the whole district of Horsham and not just the part of Horsham that is designated as NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG.

Area

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Number

%

Number

%

Number

%

Number

%

Number

%

Number

%

Adur

1,820

17.5%

1,960

18.7%

1,795

17.2%

1,785

17.0%

1,720

16.1%

1,650

15.3%

Arun

3,835

16.3%

4,050

17.1%

3,845

16.2%

3,880

16.3%

3,625

15.0%

3,555

14.6%

Chichester

2,330

12.7%

2,425

13.1%

2,340

12.6%

2,230

12.0%

2,100

11.3%

2,050

11.2%

Horsham

2,065

8.9%

2,275

9.8%

2,195

9.5%

2,095

9.1%

1,890

8.2%

1,865

8.2%

Worthing

2,635

14.8%

2,915

16.1%

2,865

15.7%

2,790

15.2%

2,460

13.3%

2,450

13.3%

West Sussex

18,490

13.4%

19,950

14.3%

19,345

13.8%

19,070

13.5%

17,655

12.4%

17,210

12.1%

South East

233,325

15.2%

249,690

16.0%

243,950

15.5%

239,725

15.1%

226,550

14.2%

219,485

13.7%

England

2,068,970

21.6%

2,131,350

21.9%

2,066,320

21.1%

2,026,465

20.6%

1,912,310

19.2%

1,854,005

18.6%

There are also considerable differences in child poverty within the local authority districts in Coastal West Sussex. Although count data (e.g. the exact number of children under the age of 16 living in low income households) is not available for small (LSOA) areas, it is possible to identify the proportion of children living in child poverty. The map below shows the proportion of children under the age of 16 years in each LSOA living in low income households according to child poverty figures for 2013. The map areas are shaded green if the 2020 national target for child poverty of 10% has been met, and grey, orange, and red if the level of child poverty is higher than 10%.

Percentage of children under 16, in 2013, living in low income households, LSOAs within NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG

Percentage of children under 16, in 2013, living in low income households, LSOAs within NHS Coastal West Susssex CCG